Latest news with #healthapp
Sky News
4 days ago
- Health
- Sky News
Millions to receive NHS screening invitations and appointment reminders on their phones
Appointment reminders, invitations to health screenings and test results will now be received by patients on their phones. The government says moving to a more digital-focused NHS will mean 50 million fewer letters need to be sent out by the health service, saving an estimated £200m over the next three years. Instead, under the new plans, millions of people will be notified about appointments and other important notices via the NHS app on their phone or digital device. The app is set to become the go-to method for the NHS to communicate with people, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The changes will be backed by more than £50m investment. It will see a predicted 270 million messages sent through the app this year, an increase of around 70 million on the last financial year, the government announced. Wes Streeting has said this is all about modernising, as the NHS "feels so 20th century". The health secretary said: "The fact that people still get letters through the front door, sometimes multiple letters about the same appointment... The NHS has been stuck in the mud when it comes to the everyday technology we use to organise our lives. And that's why what we're doing with the NHS app is really exciting." Mr Streeting said the app will make using the NHS more convenient, and give patients more control, while saving money. He said these funds can then be invested back into the health service, to bolster things such as frontline care. Using the NHS app should be 'as joyful as Netflix' The modernisation of the NHS will also lead to fewer missed appointments, and therefore save money that way too, it is hoped. In 2023/24, there were around eight million missed appointments in elective care and almost one in three people missed a screening appointment. Currently, around 20 million people have opted in to receive messages from the NHS app. 4:01 Pushed on how the government will ensure that nobody is left behind, Mr Streeting said: "If someone like me is booking my appointment through the app because that's what I prefer to do, [then] that's freeing up a phone line for someone who wants to get through and talk to a person." He added that greater use of the app will give people more choice in "how you want to organise your care". The cabinet minister also made a bold comparison, saying he wishes that the NHS app is as enjoyable as using streaming giant Netflix. He said: "The NHS app actually has more subscribers than Netflix. It would be a really wonderful thing if using the NHS app felt - if not as joyful - almost as joyful as using Netflix." Other features in the pipeline - though not yet available - include being able to add appointments to phone calendars and request help from local GPs on the app. Faster log in methods, such as using Face ID, are also planned.
Digital Trends
17-05-2025
- Health
- Digital Trends
AI app clicks nail selfie to detect blood condition affecting billions
Nearly two billion people across the world suffer from a blood condition called anemia. People living with anemia have a lower than average number of red blood cells, or the hemoglobin (Hgb) protein, and as a result, reduced oxygen carrying capacity. Chronic anemia can lead to serious health issues such as heart attack and organ damage, with pregnant women being at a particularly higher risk. So far, anemia identification has required a visit to the clinic for CBC blood tests, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit analysis, or peripheral blood smear assessment. Recommended Videos What if you could click a selfie of your nails, and an AI-powered app could tell whether you have anemia? That's exactly what experts at Chapman University have developed. The mobile app offers a non-invasive and convenient route to checking signs of anemia with a high degree of accuracy. Does it really work? The app has helped over 200,000 users across the United States and conducted over a million tests as part of a medical study. According to the experts behind it, the app can be deployed as a highly scalable and accessible anemia surveillance tool. The team behind the research found that their app delivered 'accuracy and performance that match gold standard laboratory testing and a sensitivity and specificity of 89% and 93%, respectively.' Moreover, the app also offers an AI-driven personalization system for people who have already been diagnosed with anemia. Once the app was personalized, the error rate decreased even further. An easily accessible digital tool like this will allow hundreds of millions of patients to regularly monitor their Hgb levels instantly, without having to visit clinics and get expensive blood tests done. In 2020, Sanguina also developed an app called AnemoCheck for people suffering from chronic anemia. Back then, the company said it was not pursuing any regulatory approval for the app, and that it was more of a lifestyle solution. A similar app was tested for public health service in India two years ago and was deemed good enough for screening. What's the core benefit? Experts at Chapman University made it abundantly clear that this app is not a replacement for proper medical tests, nor is it targeted at self-diagnosis. Instead, it merely serves as a warning system that lets users know if they should consult a doctor, especially if they see the pre-existing condition worsening. 'The app is particularly valuable for those with chronic anemia, such as people with kidney disease or cancer, who often require frequent monitoring,' says the team. In fact, when the app's personalization feature was enabled, the usage increased the accuracy by as much as 50% in the target user pool. The overarching goal is to allow self-monitoring and open the doors for early interventions by experts, without having to wait for lab results to come in. Interestingly, the app's built-in geolocation feature enabled what the team calls 'the first county-level anemia prevalence map in the U.S.' Experts behind the project are hoping that this app can help improve public health efforts by allowing population-wide anemia screening in tandem with regional mapping. More details about the project can be accessed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
